Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars Claimed after successful Palmetto Payback TV phonebanks

(Columbia, SC) – State Treasurer Curtis Loftis is proud to announce the Palmetto Payback Program generated claims of more than $350,000 to people statewide in the two days following TV news phonebanks.

Just last night, Palmetto Payback at WSPA-TV in Spartanburg yielded 938 claims statewide totaling $263,000 as of noon on Friday. The claim number will increase as claims continue coming in. The story was also seen in Charleston. The largest Upstate overnight claim was for $8,266 belonging to a Union County man.

On February 17, a Palmetto Payback TV phonebank at Charleston’s WCSC-TV yielded 349 statewide claims totaling nearly $90,000 in just one day. The program received so much interest that viewers overloaded the station phone system. During the 5-6pm newscasts, Treasurer Loftis took calls and helped take claims from viewers.

“I love getting outside of the Statehouse Complex and talking about this valuable program,” Treasurer Loftis said. “Giving money to its rightful owners is one of the best parts of this job and we take our responsibility very seriously when it comes to reuniting people with their unclaimed property.”

The State Treasurer’s Palmetto Payback Program is currently holding more than 1.5 million accounts totaling nearly $300 million dollars. During fiscal year ending June 2010, the program paid 13,629 claims; returning more than $12.2 million dollars to the rightful owners. The most common unclaimed property are dormant bank accounts, uncashed insurance policies, unclaimed utility deposits, uncashed checks and forgotten stocks/bonds.

Click here to check for unclaimed property.